Cellular and Animal Models in Human Genomics Research

Katherina Walz, Ph.D., is a Research Associate Professor at the Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation Department of Human Genetics, and the Director for the Division of Human Disease Modeling at the John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics, University of Miami, Florida. Dr. Walz obtained her Ph.D. in Biology (1998) from the University of Buenos Aires, and did a postdoctoral training at Dr. JR Lupski's laboratory in the Molecular and Human Genetics Department at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX (1998-2004). She established her own laboratory at the Centro de Estudios Cientificos (CECS), Valdivia, Chile (2005-2009) and she later moved it to the University of Miami (2009-present). She is interested in the molecular basis of human genetic conditions, from the definition of phenotypic outcomes and the validation of the genetic cause, to the elucidation of the molecular and physiological pathways related to human genetic diseases. Juan I. Young, Ph.D., is a Research Associate Professor in the Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation Department of Human Genetics and the Co-Director of the Center for Molecular Genetics at the John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics, University of Miami, Florida. Dr. Young obtained his Ph.D. in Biology (1998) from the University of Buenos Aires, and did his postdoctoral training at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX (1998-2004). He established his own laboratory at the Centro de Estudios Cientificos (CECS), Valdivia, Chile (2005-2009) and moved it to the University of Miami in 2009. Dr. Young is a neurobiologist interested in identifying epigenetic signatures of human genetic diseases and in establishing animal models of neurological diseases. He has a long-standing interest in neurodevelopmental disorders in general, and in understanding epigenetics-mediated pathogenesis processes.